Enro Tandokude
by zabani-chan
Summary: The Land of Fire's Daimyo has been murdered, and there are two heirs left. One doesn't want to rule, and the other is away. The first one decide's to hire two bodyguards, and they set off after the second heir. sasnar nejisak ON HOLD


Enro Tandokude

Zabani-chan

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: here is yet another story that I have thought up. I tried to take a different approach and have a different plot, so read and review please. I would really appreciate any comments on whether or not this is nay good. If no t, I will discontinue it, and if so, I will continue. **

Ch.1

The Daimyo sat there, studying his two sons who were out in the gardens. They had just turned 13, and already they were being more and more difficult to handle. Especially his first son. Naruto Uzumaki. The boy looked more and more like his great-grandfather every day, and acted like his great-grandmother. His spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes stood out in a crowd, making his easy to find and his loud, obnoxious behavior and prankster ways made him an exact copy of his grandparents.

His second son, Neji Hyuuga-Uzumaki, was born from his second wide. His first wife, Ayame Uzumaki, had died after Naruto was born. He had married his second wife a year later, and adopted her son as his own. Neji looked like his real father physically, but had picked up on his adoptive father's personality traits. He was calm and collected in any situation. His pale lilac eyes and long brown hair made him look like a girl, especially when he wore his kimono and hakama.

As it stood, since Neji was an hour older than Naruto, he was next in line to be Daimyo, and in order for his brother to become his right hand man, he would need to learn control and responsibility. He had neither. He spoke his thoughts and acted on impulse. He sighed as he thought about what to do. He sat there for the longest time, watching Naruto explore the gardens as Neji sat there reading. His eyes widened as a sudden thought came to mind.

"I've got it!" he yelled aloud.

"Got what, sir?" his butler asked. Sarutobi turned to face him.

"Get my sons and bring them to me! Hurry!" he said excitedly. His butler, Jiraiya, sighed and bowed his head.

"Be right back." He sauntered out of the room and headed towards the gardens, where he knew he would find the brats.

"Hey, Neji! Look what I found!" Naruto bounded over to his brother and showed him a shiny black rock. Neji glanced at it before going back to his book.

"That's nice." He said. Naruto pouted.

"But you didn't look at it!" he whined.

"Yes, I did." He turned the page.

"Noooo…I mean _look_ at it!" Naruto pushed the book down and shoved the rock in his face. Neji leaned back to avoid being hit in the eye. He sighed and 'looked' at the rock. He pushed it out of his face and picked his book back up.

"There, I looked. It's black and shiny." He said. Naruto smiled and put it down beside him as he sat in front of Neji. He had just started examining the cover of his older brothers' book when Jiraiya came up to them.

"The Daimyo wishes to see you. Please make yourselves presentable and report to his office." He said. Naruto and Neji looked at each other and Neji smirked.

"Too bad, Na-kun." He taunted, using his nickname used often by the elderly women. Almost immediately, Naruto bristled.

" 'Too bad' what?" he growled.

"I don't need to make myself presentable. I'm not dirty like you." Neji said. Naruto blinked and looked at his clothes. His dark blue hakama was muddy, and his dark orange kimono had dirt on it. He was sure his face was dirty. He sweatdropped, and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'll go get changed." He said, running off. Neji and Jiraiya watched him go before Neji sighed.

"I'll go and help him. Knowing him, he'll forget to wash his face." He said. Jiraiya shrugged.

"Eh. I'll be waiting by the door."

They walked into the palace and followed the noise coming from Naruto's room. They stared at his door, listening to him yell and throw things around for a while before Neji opened the door and went in. Jiraiya took out his little notebook and sat down, losing himself in his notes.

Neji carefully walked through the ocean of clothes and objects on the floor towards the closet. He stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. Naruto had rearranged everything again. The bed was by the door, and the desk sat in front of the wall size window. On each side of the window were his bookshelves. The couch sat opposite the closet, and the TV was on the large glass table beside him. He looked around and started to pick up the clothes. Once that was done, he proceeded towards the closet, catching any article of clothing that flew by him.

"What are you looking for, Naruto?" he asked bluntly. Said person froze and looked at Neji over his shoulder from inside the huge walk-in closet. His eyes started watering.

"I can't find my favorite kimono!" he cried. Neji held up a hand, holding up a white kimono with a red fox on the back. Naruto's eyes lit up as he leapt at Neji.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have no idea how hard I tried to find that!" he yelled, putting it on.

"Actually, I do." Neji said, lifting his arms slightly so that Naruto saw the pile of clothes in them. Naruto stopped and blinked, then chuckled.

"I guess you do."

"Yeah."

They stood in silence for a few minutes before Neji thrust the clothes at Naruto.

"Put them up." He demanded.

"Why?! We don't have enough time for this! We have to go see father!" Naruto yelled, dropping the clothes.

Neji crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"I am not letting you out of this room until it is clean." He stated. Naruto huffed.

"You can't make me clean."

"Oh?" he raised and eyebrow, "Then I guess your precious Sasuke-kun will know everything embarrassing about you."

Naruto gasped in horror. Sasuke was a well known ninja, and had been to the palace quite a few times for important missions. Naruto was known to be gay, and no one had any complaints. Mainly because he looked slightly feminine with his slender build and big eyes. During the times Sasuke had been here, Naruto had had Neji hide himself in order to spy on him.

"You wouldn't!" Naruto yelled. Neji shrugged nonchalantly.

"Try me." He narrowed his eyes and glared at his younger brother. Naruto puffed his cheeks and glared before stomping around the room, picking up clothes and other objects, Neji watching from his post beside the door.

An hour later, everything was clean and Naruto rounded on Neji.

"There! Happy?! Now we're extremely late for the meeting with father!" He screamed. Neji plugged his ears as Naruto continued on and opened the door, walking out and starting off towards their father's study. Naruto followed him, lecturing the whole way. Jiraiya followed behind him, still lost in his notes and ignoring Naruto's yelling.

Sarutobi stared out his window, a smile on his face. He couldn't wait to tell his sons about his idea. He knew that they probably wouldn't agree, but this was for their own good, so he was going trough with it regardless. His smile faded slightly as he realized that he was most likely going to have a headache after this. The two were extremely close, and being separated for the first time in 12 years.

The doors slamming open jerked him from his thoughts and he turned around, smiling brightly at his two sons.

"I'm sorry we're late, father! Neji wouldn't let me leave my room until it was clean!" Naruto tattled as soon as he spotted his father, who chuckled.

"That's fine. Sit down, boys. I have something I want to discuss with you." Sarutobi said as he sat in one of the chairs. Neji and Naruto followed suit, sitting on the couch in front of Sarutobi, a table between them. Jiraiya came in and served them tea, and cookies for the two younger ones.

"What about?" Naruto asked, munching on a cookie. Neji also looked curious.

"I have decided to send one of you away." He said, sipping his tea. The response was immediate.

"What?! You can't do that!" Naruto yelled.

"You've never done this before! Why now!?" Neji demanded. Jiraiya even looked surprised. Sarutobi sighed.

"It is for the best. With me becoming older every day, one of you will have to rule in my stead when you reach of age. I need to teach you everything you need to learn to be king." He explained. The two calmed, knowing the reason's were true, but still saddened at the thought that their father would one day die.

"And what have you decided, father?" Neji asked. Sarutobi turned serious.

"One of you will stay and study the laws of our land and kingdom and our history; the other will be going on a journey to explore the entire of the Land of Fire." He said. The two sat in shock, so he continued, "The one staying will be Neji…and the one leaving will be Naruto."

"Why do I have to leave?!" Naruto demanded, snapping out of his stupor.

"Because, Naruto, you have no self-control. The point of this journey is to help you learn patience and self-control so you can one day be king. Without those qualities, you will make a horrible king." Sarutobi said harshly. Naruto growled and hit his lip. He lowered his head for a minute, making Neji worried, before he raised it. His eyes were narrowed and serious, his mouth set in a firm line. The look of a serious elder…no look that was supposed to be on a 13 year old child. He stood up slowly, surprising everyone in the room at his calmness. They expected him to explode and throw a tantrum that he was well known for. Instead, his voice was calm and steady when he spoke.

"I will not go."

Sarutobi's patience snapped. He was in no mood to deal with a difficult Naruto. He truly could be like his great-grandfather when the situation arose.

"I do not care. You will be gone by morning, whether by force or not. It is your choice. I have already hired two capable ninja to accompany you on this journey, and they will be taking you with them during the night. Until then, you will be locked in your room, and Jiraiya will pack everything you will need." He said, voice hard. Neji stared at his father, eyes wide with disbelief at his words. Naruto remained unflinching.

"Then they will be forcing me to go, because I will not leave by choice." Naruto said, walking towards the door. Jiraiya followed him out after a minute of staring at his king. Neji remained frozen, but his anger caught up soon enough. He glared at his father.

"Why didn't you choose him to study to be king?!" he demanded.

"You are older, therefore the responsibility falls to you. Naruto has not the skills to be king like you do. You are the studious one between you two, and will take to the books more easily and readily then your brother."

"I do not agree to this! Being king was his dream! Throwing him out of the palace, telling him he's not fit to be king…that he'll be a horrible one…you just took that dream and tore it to shreds! Do you really think that after all that he'll even want to come home to a father who didn't believe in his own son!?" Neji yelled, pausing for a breath, "I swear…if he never comes home…I will never forgive you...adoptive father or not!"

With that, Neji left, hoping to catch Naruto before he reached his room, leaving his father to think about what he said. Sarutobi knew that what he said was true, but he could do nothing about it. This was for their own good. They had to grow up sometime, and now was better than ever.

8

End

This was chapter one. R&R and let me know how good it was. By the way, _enro _means either _long road, journey,detour_ and _tandokude_ means either _independently, individually, separately, alone_. I chose _journey alone_, but you can choose your own interpretation of the title.


End file.
